Daylighting Creeks

Daylighting creeks that were culverted as part of recent “urban progress” is becoming a standard response to the concreting of our environment that has occurred over the past decades. Here’s a neat link from Detroit about Bloody Run Creek…

Culverting was often undertaken in an effort to remove nuisance stormwater from urbanized areas, and maximize flat areas available for roads and development. Also, culverts removed pools and standing water that may have been a source of mosquitoes. But in recent years the issues with loss of biodiversity and natural spaces has come to the forefront, including the issues associated with increased water velocity and the impacts on downstream waterways and flooding.

Visible Man

Urban watersheds in this part of the world, (Langley, BC) are critical for the health of fish populations and their spawning grounds. It is amazing to see fish swimming upstream in creeks along green corridors surrounded by a city.

Daylighting is the start of the reversal process, stripping the concrete and recreating a streambed that can support aquatic wildlife is a challenge, and these areas need to be maintained and protected for all to enjoy.

When the Gig Harbor City council approved the most scaled back version of its Donkey Creek day-lighting project recently, disappointment hung in the air. When the Gig Harbor City Council approved the most scaled back version of its Donkey Creek day-lighting project recently, disappointment hung in the air.

Bread and Cheese Creek, Trash and Debris in the North Point area targeted for cleanup on 9/24/11

If we go to the effort of recreating or preserving our green spaces and riparian corridors, we need to look after the habitat. Plastic bags, trash and shopping carts are the last things that fish need to encounter, and detergents, oils and paint solvents can kill of wildlife.

This study focuses on stray shopping cart activity in and around the last 1.5 miles of Scajaquada Creek in Buffalo, New York. Scajaquada Creek begins in the eastern suburbs of Buffalo and ends at the Black Rock Canal, which flows parallel to the Niagara River.